Black Friday Notebook Deals

Black Friday is just around the corner. On the Friday after Thanksgiving you’ll be able to score great dealers from manufacturers like Apple, HP, Dell, Lenovo and Toshiba. Retailers like Best Buy, Wal-mart, Staples, Office Depot, Office Max and Amazon.com will be selling laptops at significant discounts. If you are looking for Black Friday Laptop Deals for 2011 — you’ve come to the right place.

This year the Black Friday deals are dominated by a handful of models. Many retailers are offering variations of laptops that are very similar to each other. While the model numbers may be different, they are nearly identical. For example, just about every retailer is selling a variant of the the Compaq CQ6 or Compaq CQ62 and the HP 2000.

Best Black Friday Laptop Deals by Price – 2011

If you plan to buy a Black Friday notebook or laptop during 2011, these following notebooks are the best bets. You won’t find a listing of every Black Friday notebook, because many of the other deals are bad buys.

Best Black Friday Notebook Deals Under $200

Lenovo 15.6″ AMD E300 Notebook – $179.99 – Best Buy This Lenovo notebook is sparse on specs, but it has a decent AMD Fusion processor that will be powerful enough for home users who just want to surf the web and check email. This computer would be well supplemented by another 2GB of RAM, which you can purchase and add online.

Compaq CQ57-319qm 15.6″ Notebook – $198 – Walmart Normally, Black Friday laptops under $200 are not worth it, but this Compaq CQ57-319qm has an OK AMD processor and decent specs for users that need a basic computer for checking email and listening to Pandora, or doing some work on documents in Word or Excel.

Best Black Friday Notebook Deals Under $300

HP 15.6″ 2000-329WM Laptop – $248 – Walmart Once again, we see the capable AMD Fusion E 350 processor in the HP 2000-329WM. This notebook is a better bet than the cheaper models because it has a faster processor, 3GB RAM and decent specs. Again, this is good for the basic user or student who needs something to work on and use the web.

Toshiba Satellite C655D-S5332 – $299 – OfficeMax With similar specs to the HP shown above, the Satellite C655D-S5332 is an OK deal, but at $299, you are getting into prices where you can get a better notebook for not much more, or like the next deal, no increase in price.

Gateway NV55s17u 15.6″ AMD A4 – $299 – Office DepotThe Gateway NV55s17u has a nice AMD A-4 processor, plenty of RAM and a decent hard drive. The AMD A-4 processor is on par with the Intel Core i3 processors which you won’t find in this price range. If you need a decent amount of power at a good price this is a notebook worth looking for.

Best Black Friday Notebook Deals Under $400

HP 2000-363NR 15.6″ Intel Core i3 – $349 – Radio Shack The HP 2000-363NR has last year’s Intel Core i3 processor, but it is a great all around computer for most home users. This notebook will handle multitasking better than the others listed at cheaper prices, but keep in mind it is not a gaming notebook. You can do some video work before you upload to YouTube, but expect to wait for it.

Toshiba Satellite L755-S5366 – 2nd Gen Intel Core i3 – $399 – Office Depot Once you get close to $400, you start to hit on gems like the Toshiba Satellite L755-S536. This notebook has a new Intel Core i3 processor, 6GB RAM and a large 500GB hard drive. If you were going to wait in line or stay up late, this would be my first real top pick for Black Friday notebook deal of 2011.

HP dv4-4141 – 14″ Notebook with 2nd Gen Intel Core i3 – $399 – Staples Now we’re talking. The HP Pavilion dv4-4141 offers a compelling Black Friday value for users who want a compact notebook with a decent set of specs. You get a new Intel Core i3 processor, 4GB RAM and a spacious 640GB hard drive. This is one worth going for on Black Friday 2011.

HP Pavilion G6-1B60US w/ AMD A4 – $399 – Office Max Available right now, with no waiting or lines, the HP Pavilion G6-1B60US offers a good value for the users who want to avoid all the Black friday games. With a dual core AMD A4 processor, 4GB RAM and a 500GB hard drive, this 15.6″ notebook is a good deal.

Best Black Friday Deals Under $500

Once you reach the $500 Black Friday Notebook deals, you start to see soem really nice machines. These notebooks all have the power that I would recommend to my friends and family for students and home users that want a machine that won’t slow down when you start to open up many programs. The list of Black Friday notebook deals below, represents my top picks in this category.

Best Black Friday Notebook Deals Over $500

The following Black Friday notebook deals offer a good value and plenty of power for demanding users. These are not gaming notebooks though, so don’t plan on playing Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 on high if you buy one of these deals.

Black Friday iPad and iPod Deals:

We expect a number of Black Friday deals on apps for the iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad.

The iPad is a great mobile device, but there are some reasons that you may want to avoid buying the iPad on Black Friday. Are you prepared for Black Friday? If you have doubts, this Black Friday survival guide will help you prepare to stay in line with the hardcore shoppers like Tito Hernandez, who has been camping out since last week, just to get a $299 laptop and a $199 HDTV.